This invention relates generally to fishing equipment, and to article-holding means and enclosures therefor; more particularly, the invention relates to a portable, self-contained, fishing lure-retaining and enclosing device for use by sport fisherman, particularly those who use small lures such as flies, poppers, "bugs", and the like, which typically comprise essentially a single fishing hook which carries or has been incorporated into fish-baiting objects or members disposed along the shank of the hook to conceal it and make it resemble fish food.
The spectacle of a tangled or jumbled fishing tackle box is a relatively familiar one to most people, and particularly sport fishermen. This spectacle, while perhaps sometimes overdone in jest, nonetheless has substantial validity in fact. Fishermen typically have many small items such as hooks, flies, lures, etc., which are usually kept rather loosely in various compartments inside a tackle box, and the contents of tackle boxes are frequently jumbled together during use, either through carelessness, accident, exciting moments during fishing, lack of sufficient light (as when fishing after sunset or at night), etc.
As a result, most tackle boxes require laborious and time-consuming reorganization on a comparatively frequent basis and, where this is not done, fishing is frequently disrupted or made difficult by the inability to find particular lures when they are needed or desired, or to extricate the desired lure from others under such circumstances. These adverse effects are all the more objectionable in fly fishing, or fishing with small lures such as spinners, popping bugs, etc., since their comparatively small size and low weight makes them all the more subject to becoming lost or misplaced within a tackle box or other such container. Of course, it is well known that fly fishermen and others who use small baits or lures frequently hook them into or upon a hatband, or on hats or vests especially equipped with fleece or other such material provided expressly for that purpose; however, actually using such a method during fishing is not as simple or desirable as is popularly believed, since the small lures may well not detach readily from the place where they are hooked, or may simply slip out of place and be lost if not securely hooked in the first place, and there are many other such disadvantages as well.
Consequently, the need persists for a simple, easy and convenient means by which to retain small items such as fishing lures, which will provide easy and sure securement and release of the lures whenever desired during fishing, which holds the lures separately and independently from one another, which is comparatively small and light in weight, inexpensive to manufacture and purchase, et cetera.